With friends, family, and faculty cheering them on, over 1350 new alumni graduated in commencement ceremonies in the UT Dallas Activity Center on Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5, 2007.

Because of the record number of graduates, for the first time the University held four commencement ceremonies. All Master's degree candidates graduated on Friday evening, followed by three ceremonies on Saturday for undergraduates and Doctoral degree candidates.

Each ceremony featured a student speaker, chosen for his or her academic achievements, campus and community involvement, and speech content. Sally Denise Luber (MBA '07), spoke at the Master's ceremony on Friday, May 4, followed by Saturday's student speakers Dmitri Shneider (BS Finance '07) at 9:00 am, Oren Lund (BA American Studies '07) at 12:00pm, and Fern Yoon (BS Electrical Engineering '07) at 3:00pm. Shneider reminded all alumni that "whether we end up staying in Dallas, move to the coasts or even overseas, we must never forget that we have a home away from home" at the University of Texas at Dallas, while Lund, echoing a common theme, talked about the continual nature of education, telling the graduates that "you aren't a political scientist, a molecular biologist, a lawyer, or a chemist as soon as you shake President Daniel's hand and flip your tassel. But with the professional language, the ideas and theories, the amazing contacts, and the wonderful role models that UTD has given us, we can humbly learn to become those things."

UT Dallas Founder Eugene McDermott said that "the best human talent, provided with the best education and enriched with an understanding of the arts, is the essential foundation of business success and societal progress." We are so proud of UT Dallas' newest alumni, who are part of that essential foundation.

On May 17, we had a great turnout at BlackFinn for our Thirsty Thursday happy hour. We had over thirty alumni attend the event many of whom were new graduates excited about their new alumni status and getting involved. A number of alumni exchanged business cards and discussed forwarding resumes for potential job opportunities and others exchanged cards for future golf games. Our happy hours are more fun each month with new alumni attending and getting back in touch with UT Dallas. Don't miss our next Thirsty Thursday at Fox Sports Grill in The Shops at Legacy, Plano from 6 - 8 p.m. on June 21.

Tektronix Corporate Alumni Event

On May 24, UT Dallas hosted the third in a series of Corporate Days at the Tektronix headquarters located in Richardson. UT Dallas is proud to be designated as one of 10 universities worldwide selected to be a part of the Tektronix Key School program. Through its Key School program, Tektronix focuses on strengthening the company's partnerships with strategic engineering universities. UT Dallas' involvement in the program allows us to receive enhanced educational experience through equipment donations and advice on curriculum and technology research projects. This, in turn, allows UT Dallas to attract outstanding faculty and recruit quality students. Tektronix benefits from brand recognition and a continual flow of engineering interns and graduates. We want to thank all the alumni who attended the event and a special thanks to Wei Dong class of '99 for coordinating the event.

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